I made a chill website blocker

Greetings from Los Angeles! (My wife and I are on a short trip.) 🌞

Something different today: a quick demo. Like an entry from the maker’s log. Hope you’re well.

Two weeks ago, I found myself visiting YouTube and other distracting sites more than I would have liked. It’s worrisome to watch yourself type in a URL without thinking. The fingers move before the brain catches up.

I’ve tried website blockers before—StayFocusd and the like. While useful, they always felt Spartan. Big timers, red warnings. I wanted something that felt more like a Tai-chi master redirecting my attention. A gentle intervention that was calmer to look at and could remind me of my real priorities. What would I rather be doing if I could avoid the internet’s content rabbit holes?

So I made Better Things To Do. It’s a Chrome extension that blocks distracting sites with a reminder of the better things you have to do.

It’s personalized (add your own blocklist and priorities), customizable (set how long you have to wait before you can “continue anyway”), private by design (everything stays on your device, so no tracking, no account), and—I think—visually pleasing! Chill wavy screensaver vibes with a bunch of color themes.

Check out the demo video above to see it in action. I built the extension with Claude Code, and it’s running locally for me right now. If this seems useful to you, let me know. 🤓 I’m considering publishing it to the Chrome store.

• I made the demo video using Remotion, which was wild. Ashe Magalhaes mentioned it at Every’s Vibe Code Camp last week. Remotion is a video production tool built entirely in JavaScript. You pull the code, run it locally, and edit videos with code. 🤯

• Thanks for the heartfelt responses to my earlier post “Fatherhood: the 2 Year Checkin.” I had wonderful conversations and catchups. It reminded me why I write here. To stay connected with friends and make new ones. 🧡

Building Better Things To Do was a detour. I had other priorities lined up, including a cozy iOS app I’m designing. Yet this Chrome extension has a lot in common with the ideas I’m most excited about. They’re all fun tools for the journey of getting better. Growth is hard work. And all the more reason to inject a little play.

Below are posts from the past few months, ranging from talking fatherhood to building with Claude Code. Thanks for reading!